WITHDRAW BILL 7 FROM PARLIAMENT, DR. M'MEMBE URGES GOVERNMENT - The Zambian Observer
WITHDRAW BILL 7 FROM PARLIAMENT, DR. M’MEMBE URGES GOVERNMENT
…as he accuses the UPND of sponsoring people to get consent orders from Constitutional Court over Bill 7
Lusaka… Wednesday July 2, 2025 – Socialist Party (SP) leader Dr Fred M’membe has called on President Hakainde Hichilema to immediately withdraw Bill No. 7 of 2025 from the floor of the House.
Dr. M’membe has also accused the UPND of trying to sponsor some people to get consent orders from the Constitutional Court over Bill No. 7.
He says this constitution review process has failed and that it is time for Mr Hichilema for the first time probably in his life as a politician to backdown.
The SP leader said this when he and his General Secretary Dr Cosmas Musumali featured on Hot FM Radio’s ‘The Socialist Hour’ programme this morning.
“Mr Hakainde Hichilema must start by withdrawing that Bill from the floor of the House. It can’t continue! But he is trying to find ways to manipulate the process. Now they are even sponsoring people to try and get back to the Constitutional Court so that they can get some form of consent orders and so on,” he claimed.
“This constitution review process has failed. And it is time for Mr Hakainde Hichilema for the first time probably in his life as a politician to back down. The consultations he was having, those are not consultations where you call people to your office and say I am going ahead with this, I want to do this, you hate me, and so on, is that consultation? What he had with Civil Society Organisations, is that consultation? Even the people he has been sending around from his party and government, they have not gone to consult but they have gone to manipulate the people.”
He said there should be wider consultations with the people when amending the Republican Constitution.
“Constitutional review processes are not done that way. There has to be an Act of Parliament, stipulating how those consultations are being made. Where there is a Constituent Assembly, there has to be an Act of Parliament,” he added.
“What Mr Hichilema is trying to do has no nobility in it, it simply a way to try and manipulate his way and consolidate his power or increase the length of his stay in power. These are not consultations he is making, consultations are not done that way. Mr Hichilema has gotten his way far too long, there is need to consider the feelings of others. A country cannot be governed this way. There is need for humility, there is need for sensitivity, there is need to learn when to back down.”
And Dr Musumali said failure to widely consult the people means it cannot be a people driven constitution but a political party constitution.
“A constitution is a people’s document. These are the people of Zambia speaking and building consensus and agreeing on the fundamental laws that are going to govern their lives. If a constitution is manipulated by a political party, that stops being a Zambian Constitution. So the idea of consultations is is not just to sort of give credibility what a political party aims to achieve, the idea of consultations is to make it real that the people have a say in what the government is trying to make it look like and how they should be governed,” said Dr Musumali.
